View full sizeThis chart looks at the impact of a new scoring system to determine passage rates on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams. The new scoring system, which raised the bar considerably on math standards, was implemented in 2011. This chart shows 2008 proficiency levels based on the standards originally in place in 2008-09 and then recalculated under the new standards.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- In fall 2008, it appeared Kalamazoo Public Schools was experiencing awesome progress in math proficiency.

More than 81 percent of KPS third-graders passed the math portion of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams that year, including 39 percent of KPS third-graders categorized as advanced.

By fall 2010, the district's passage rate on the third-grade MEAP test was up to 93 percent, with 42 percent scoring as "advanced."

That success in KPS -- mirrored in districts across the state -- was an illusion, state officials say now.

Officials in the Michigan Department of Education acknowledged that skyrocketing passages rates on the MEAP were fueled in part by changes in the so-called "cut scores" -- i.e., the number of correct answers required to pass the test.

State officials addressed the issue by implementing new, much tougher cut scores starting in 2011-12. On the third-grade math MEAP, the percentage of correct answers needed to pass went from 34 to 72 percent.

Recalculated under the new scoring system, Kalamazoo's 2008 passage rate on the third-grade math MEAP went from 81 to 26 percent. The district

went from having 39 percent of third-graders labeled as "advanced" to 6 percent. The number in the bottom of the four proficiency tiers went from 0.3 percent to 55 percent.

The dramatic, overnight change in MEAP scoring illustrates that determining what constitutes "grade-level" proficiency can be much more subjective than many think. It also helps

View full sizeThese charts show passage rates on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests for grades 3-8 using the current, tougher cut scores. Low-income students are those who qualify for the federal subsidized lunch program.

explain the low rates of math proficiency in KPS and statewide based on current MEAP passage rates.

In grades 3-8, only 28 percent of KPS students passed the MEAP math test administered in fall 2012 compared to 40 percent statewide.

Broken down by proficiency level, 54 percent of KPS students in grades 3-8 were categorized as "not proficient" based on the 2012 results, 18 percent as partially proficient, 24 percent as proficient and 4 percent as advanced.

Still, an in-depth analysis of KPS math scores by Mlive/Kalamazoo
Gazette shows that, on the whole, the overall rate of improvement in
Kalamazoo is outpacing the state numbers as well as the composite
average of seven other urban districts: Battle Creek,
Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon and Saginaw.

The analysis compared 2012 MEAP results for
grades 3-8 to 2008, the earliest
comparable data available. The analysis also
compared
outcomes for different demographic groups, including whites, Hispanics
and African-Americans, as well as low-income and middle-class students
regardless of race. [RELATED STORY:Is the Kalamazoo Promise improving achievement in Kalamazoo Public Schools?]

View full sizeLow-income students are those who qualifiy for the federal subsidized lunch program. The urban average is a composite of the demographics of seven urban districts: Battle Creek, Fllint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon and Saginaw.

Among the findings:

Kalamazoo had gains in math proficiency for every demographic group between 2008 and 2012 under the new scoring system.

The
overall gains in grades 3-8 for those groups exceeded or matched the
gains statewide and the urban district average in every category.

Passage
rates on the MEAP reading tests for low-income increased by 4 points for low-income
students and by 8 points for middle-class students between 2008 and 2012.

KPS shrunk the percent of students in the lowest proficiency level by 4.2 percentage points compared to 0.5 percent statewide.

The fight to boost math skills in KPS got re-energized in
November 2005, with the launch of The Kalamazoo Promise and the prospect
that students who go through KPS high schools can get a four-year
college scholarship.

View full sizeThese three charts show how Kalamazoo Public Schools resembles other urban districts in its demographics, but its test scores are coming more in line with state numbers. The urban average is based on a composite of Battle Creek, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon and Saginaw.

KPS officials quickly noted that maximizing the potential of The Promise
requires a dramatic decrease in the dropout rate and a major boost in
academic proficiency.

To that end, KPS has adopted a list of
reforms since 2008 to improve academic outcomes. While the top goal has been boosting literacy
skills, there also have been reforms aimed specifically at math.

Among the changes:

Implemented all-day kindergarten with a curriculum that includes more emphasis on math. The 2012 fourth-graders are the first cohort to have all-day kindergarten systemwide.

Implemented new math curriculum in all the elementary grades.

Required struggling math students in middle school to have two math classes a day.

Revised its summer school curriculum for struggling math students.

That KPS is improving is significant considering the challenge presented by the new cut scores.

Tim Bartik, a senior economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazo and a former KPS school board member, said last year that many people don't understand "how large the
increase in standards is in terms of grade level equivalents."

View full sizeThis chart compares percentile-point changes in the passage rate on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, For instance, Kalamazoo's passage rate for all students increased from 23 to 28 percent, a change of 5 points. The urban average is a composite of the results from seven urban districts: Battle Creek, Flint, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon and Saginaw.

The cut scores are going up for math went up "about the
equivalent of what the typical student learns in three years," Bartik wrote in an email to a Gazettee reporter.

"These changes in
MEAP cut scores are REALLY big increases," he wrote, and that was particularly true in mathh, where cut score went up "about the
equivalent of what the typical student learns in three years. ... For example, if we are going to have
students at 3rd grade up by a couple grade levels, we are going to have to
improve student learning from kindergarten to 3rd grade by 40% per year."

The good news is that higher expectations are putting much more pressure on school districts, including KPS, to improve the quality of math instruction. And at least in Kalamazoo, those improvements appear to be bearing some fruit.